


Pendulum

by askboo



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-27
Updated: 2017-03-27
Packaged: 2018-10-11 11:26:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,392
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10463835
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/askboo/pseuds/askboo
Summary: The Sectrumsempra Scene, re-imagined.("Come on," Harry whispered, reaching down for Draco's hand. He tugged him along, back through the water and into the dry corridor. Everyone was still at dinner, so the halls were empty. Draco struggled to get in control of his breathing, didn't even ask Harry where they were going. He'd left his school vest, soggy and soaked, in the lavatory. He wasn't himself. Harry should have known.)





	

**Author's Note:**

> So self-indulgent.
> 
> This story assumes that Draco and Harry had been dating and broken up at the end of OOTP. Incidentally, it is really, really fun to read/watch HPB with the concept in mind that Harry and Draco are exes.

Harry's chest burned as hard as his knees. He was pretty sure he had never run so hard in his life, taking the stairs three at a time. He _wasn't_ sure what he was going to do when he got there - he was seeing red, but the grief was just as powerful as the rage, clogging his throat and making it hard to breathe. Seeing Draco was the only thing that was going to help him make up his mind. He rounds the corner into the lavatory - ice cold water immediately fills his shoes. Harry hardly feels it. Or, he feels it everywhere - ice in his chest, in the tips of his fingers - at the sight of Draco hunched over the sinks, sobbing terribly. It turns out that seeing Draco fills Harry with something he's never felt before, unrecognizable. The rage and the grief fade away.

He wades through the water, quicker the closer he gets, and while he had imagined hitting Draco, when he reaches out it's to take hold of Draco's arm. He turns him away from the sink, and Draco is so far gone that he doesn't even fight him, just turns to face Harry with red, swollen eyes and cheeks. Sitting outside Slughorn's party that night - hearing Draco claim what he had done to Katie, boasting his pride over being chosen, Harry had thought his heart was as broken as it was ever going to get. Turned out, he was wrong. _This_ was worse. He'd thought Draco had abandoned him, but no--it had been...it had been the other way around.

"Come on," Harry whispered, reaching down for Draco's hand. He tugged him along, back through the water and into the dry corridor. Everyone was still at dinner, so the halls were empty. Draco struggled to get in control of his breathing, didn't even ask Harry where they were going. He'd left his school vest, soggy and soaked, in the lavatory. He wasn't himself. Harry should have _known_.

When they got to the large tapestry that hid the door to the Room of Requirement, Draco looked nearly frightened to enter it. Harry dragged him back and forth three times, and then pushed Draco through the door. The room had shrunk - there was a bed with crisp white linens, and a copper filled tub filled with steaming water. The window was open to the grounds, and though it was still snowing out, the air coming through was as warm as a summer morning. Harry tugged the buttons of Draco's shirt free, coaxed him out of his trousers and pants, and into the water. It smelled of lavender, and Draco sank in like a sponge, curling his arms around his knees and hiding his face.

An hour nearly passed, but the water stayed perfect, cooling and warming again according to Draco's comfort. Harry sat on the plush bath mat right beside it and didn't say anything all that time, only reaching in once to brush at the short hair at the back of Draco's neck. Draco's breathing was finally going calm. When he sat up, leaning back against the tub, he squinted at Harry through swollen eyes. "What are you doing?" he asked hoarsely.

Harry thought that as questions went, it was rather unfair. It should have been obvious. He dipped his hand into the water and used it to flick water in Draco's face. The rage hadn't faded, after all - it had just gone dormant. "First of all, how dare you," Harry said. "How _dare_ you."

Draco grimaced, wiping the water droplets from his eyes. "So. You were wrong about me," he said.

"I _wasn't_ ," Harry said. "That's why I'm so _furious_ , Draco, I ought to drown you."

"Please," Draco whispered, closing his eyes. 

Harry reached out and roughly took hold of Draco's cheek, turning his face towards him. "You made me think..." he said through gritted teeth. "You know what you made me think."

"I didn't make you think anything - there's no fallacy here, Potter," Draco said, opening his eyes again. They were swimming with more tears. "This is me. I cursed that girl. I tried to kill your precious Dumbledore and I'll try again."

Harry sighed, dropping his chin to the side of the tub hard enough that it almost hurt. He closed his own eyes, this time. He didn't say anything again for awhile. "It was harder than you thought, wasn't it?" he murmured, conversationally. "The Imperius Curse."

When he opened his eyes again, Draco had the same look on his face that Hermione got when she got anything less than perfect on her school work. "It didn't work," he muttered.

"Because you didn't _want_ it to work," Harry said, and he held up his hand when Draco opened his mouth. "I tried it, once. Only it was the Cruciatus curse. Your aunt. She'd just killed..." Harry eased his eyes shut again. "I wanted to hurt her. I wanted more than anything for her to be ripped apart. But it didn't work, Draco, because I have no _idea_ what really wanting someone to suffer is like."

Draco licked a stray tear as it rolled over his lip. "I want him to die," he breathed. "I do."

"You want your family to be safe - it's not the same," Harry said. He yanked Draco close so that their foreheads could touch. "You should have told me."

Draco breathed quietly, his mouth so close. His voice hitched several times before he got it out. "I'm sorry," he whispered. "I thought...I knew what you would say."

Harry sighed again, and reached into the tub to tug on the plug. There was a plush bathrobe folded on the end of the bed, and he reached for it, wrapping Draco up in it when he stood. Draco was wobbly, drowsy, so it was easier than normal to get him into the bed. The fireplace roared to life, and Harry shrugged out of his own uniform, and crowded up behind him, under the blankets. "I know I don't have a family, the way you do," he murmured. He leaned his forehead against the back of Draco's neck. "But...if I thought I could get them back, make them safe again, I...I don't know what I might do."

Draco snorted quietly. He turned in Harry's arms. "Not kill," he said.

"I might," Harry said seriously. He reached out to sooth one of Draco's pale, thin eyebrows with his thumb. "I don't know."

"I do know," Draco whispered. "And you know, what I would do. And you still love me?"

"If my feelings for you made any sense, we definitely wouldn't be here," Harry said, with a small smile. He leaned in for a small kiss, but lingered. "I missed you."

Draco pulled back to look at him. Finally, _finally_ , he was smiling. "You're a lunatic, Potter," he said, and leaned in for another kiss.

"Yeah, well. I ought not have let you pull away. I should have known better," Harry replied firmly. He tugged sharply on a strand of Draco's hair. "We tried this your way. Now we're going to try it my way."

Draco frowned at him, disbelieving. "You're going to help me assassinate Dumbledore?"

"Yes, I have a plan. He's fond of knitting - we can curse the needles," Harry said sarcastically. He reached for a pillow and whacked Draco with it. "Go to sleep. I'll clue you in tomorrow morning."

Draco slid the offending pillow under his own head. He stretched out, keeping the side of his body pressed close. He dozed, for awhile, before he spoke again. "Someone will notice if we miss curfew," he mumbled.

"Prefect. Chosen one."

Draco rolled over and put an arm over Harry. "Abuse of power," he murmured appreciatively. "You are a keeper."

They rose in the morning before the waking bell. The corridors were empty once again. Harry took Draco's hand as they walked. They were pale and long and beautiful, only now they were covered in unfamiliar scars, nicks and scratches from working on that damn cabinet. Draco looked up at the statue guarding Dumbledore's office like he was facing an executioner. Harry lifted his hand so he could kiss the back of it. "It's going to be alright," he whispered. "Trust me."

That made all the difference, in the end.


End file.
